Leanne
by LastOfTheTimeLadies
Summary: The Doctor, as usual, manages to land his TARDIS in a different point in time and space than he would rather be.  Not knowing where he is, the Doctor questions a girl named Leanne, who informs this strange man that he is in Canada.  And the story begins.
1. Because It's a Shop

In the TARDIS, the Doctor was struggling to make his ship work. His plan was to visit Hampton Court Palace to see the marriage and coronation of Catherine of Parr to King Louis VIII. He had already seen it of course, but revisiting history was quite enjoyable. Especially those of earth, where the parties and the nibbles are always top of the line.

The problem was, one could not land in the proper Time and Space if one's TARDIS is uncooperative.

"Oh come on!" The Doctor yelled at his ship. Grabbing the hammer, he gave the dashboard a good smack. The TARDIS lurched, and the Doctor was thrown forwards. Oddly, the switches that he landed on ended up being just the right combination the TARDIS needed. It left the vortex and began to park. "There we go, that's my girl," he said standing up and straitening his suit. He had decided on the blue today, mostly because it went best with the red converse shoes.

Once the TARDIS had fully materialized, he stepped outside. And stepped back in. "What part of Hampton Court Palace, do you NOT understand?" His ship gave a rumble. "Right. You need a rest. FINE!"

The Doctor went back out, shielding his eyes from the sun. It was the height of summer, so he threw his trench off, making sure his psychic paper was still with him. It seemed to be the twenty-first century and he was in some part of England that he had not visited before. It wasn't London, as the air was too thin. Curious, he looked around and found that he had parked at the end of a strip mall. He grinned at the little shops that comprised most of it. A shop would be a good place to find out where he was. Well, no, anywhere would do. But shops where shops and thus better than just anywhere.

Hands in his suit pockets, the Doctor walked up into the local corner drug store. Something had drawn him to it, though he could not explain what (asides from the fact that it was a shop of course). The door gave a small ding as he entered. It was quite busy this place, with all the staff helping customers to find vitamins or explaining the concepts of different lotto tickets. Wanting someone to talk to-mostly to prevent talking to himself-he headed to the back where a postal outlet was.

Pacing back in forth behind a wooden counter was a girl with short brown hair and a bored look on her face. She was currently the only one working in the postal outlet, and like every day during the summer, her shift was so dreadfully dull and slow. There were barely any customers, and the place could only be cleaned, sorted, and stocked so many times before she ran out of things to do.

The Doctor approached the counter, noticing that the girl's mind seemed to be somewhere else. With a grin on his face, he slammed his palms down

Suddenly noticing a customer was _actually_ at the post office instead of simply browsing the cards as people often did at this end of the store, the girl flipped around with a sudden twirl, letting out a small squeak.

"Oh hello, I didn't see you there! Can I help you?" she asked, putting on a smile while hoping that this guy didn't want to complain about the service or anything else she had no control over.

"Well" said the Doctor, running his hands through his hair "You can help me. I really have no clue why I am here. Or, more to the point, where I am. I'm just here because I like shops. Ooo, the Queen," he exclaimed, pointing to a strip of stamps. The girl blinked. "Maybe I'll buy some…oh wait, no money. By the way, what year is it?"

The girl looked a little confused at this barrage of questions. "You're in Cambrian Drug mart, and it's 2010 last time I checked. Unless I've fallen asleep and missed half a year or something" she added sarcasm to the end crossing her arms. On the other hand, her smile formed into one a little more genuine than the average one she gave to customers. "You like the Queen? Half the people around here seem to love her, the other half seem to hate her." She gave a small laugh.

The Doctor, however, frowned at that. "What is wrong with the Queen I wonder" he muttered, more to himself than to the girl. "Everyone in England loves the Queen or is at least impartial". He turned his gaze to the ceiling. "Has there been some plot while I have been gone? But it has not been that long...you there, what did you say your name was?" he asked, suddenly turning his attention back onto the girl.

The postal worker took a second to move her thoughts away from wondering if this man was mad, and motioned towards her name tag. "I didn't, but it's Leanne," she replied, and shook her head. "You know, just because people love the queen in England doesn't mean they'll love her here." Leanne then took in the man's English accent. "Wait, are you visiting from there? You know, I've always wanted to see England."

"Huh? Oh no, I'm from elsewhere" replied the Doctor, waving the question off with his hand. He had been dwelling the whole time on how daft he was for not having seen the name tag. He was silent for a tic, then...

"This isn't England?" he asked blinking.

The girl blinked and tilted her head. "No," she said slowly, "Last time I checked this was Canada. You know, _the True North Strong and Free_, beavers and moose with maple syrup and all that good stuff."

"Reeeeeealy? That's interesting. And rather odd." _ I am definitely going to have to have a word with my TARDIS_ he thought to himself. The problem was, she was sleeping and was not going to be cooperative for awhile. He was not completely disappointed however; a new place was a new place after all, and the Doctor was never one not to explore the unknown. Or make new friends, for that matter. He continued chatting up Leanne.

"Well I've never been to Canada before, so I suppose this is a new experience. I usually never know where I am going to end up anyways. You would have to agree it's a lot more exciting that way. Do you travel much? Fancy Bananas?"

Leanne had an amused crossed with confused look on her face. This guy with the English accent, who actually wasn't from England, was just plain weird. But at least he was interesting, and that's more than she can say for the rest of her day. "Let's see…" she started, trying to remember all of what the Doctor had just said. "…I suppose it could be fun not to know where one is going. I don't really travel too much though. I've been to Disney Land a few times, and Montreal once. And, um, Banana's are great." She really wondered why anyone would ask that. "I love putting them over cereal...or ice cream."

The Doctor was glad that he was making Leanne smile. He disliked it when people had a stick up their arse. And acted like it. "Disney Land is great place! I met Disney himself actually. Amazing chap that man, quite brilliant. Though not as brilliant as I of course," he added as an afterthought. Then the Doctor made a decision. "You can show me around this Canada place!" He said gleefully. "I've always heard it was all covered in snow and ice, yet its bloody hot outside. What do you say, shall we allons-y?"

"Allons…y?" Leanne repeated, saying the word out slowly and trying to interpret its meaning. She then blinked. Was this guy seriously asking her to drop everything and just...go with him? She glanced over at the clock; she was still technically on the job for another hour. Then again...it was the middle of summer and nothing really happened back here anyways. "Alright, let me just tell them I'm hopping out early then." _After all, she thought to herself what's the worst that could happen?_


	2. Leanne is NOT a Bloodhound

"Brilliant!" The Doctor hooked Leanne under the elbow "let's go!" Leanne just managed to grab her shoulder bag before he steered them towards the front door, giving a nod to a bewildered pharmacist as they made their exit. "So, is there anything exciting around here to poke around in?" He asked, looking down at Leanne. "Any mysterious houses, questionable people, banana groves?"

The girl shot a bewildered look up at him. "Umm...Nothing that I know of. It depends on what you mean by questionable. And bananas don't grow in Canada; we get ours from the grocery store." As she finally got herself in pace with the Doctors long strides, Leanne took the time to take off her smock and shove it into her bag. She felt out of place still in her work clothes, a button down shirt and dress pants, but continued to walk.

"Oh" said the Doctor, feeling a bit put out. He certainly did not want to a grocery store; they were a bit too domestic for his tastes. So he asked hopefully "Anywhere interesting in town then to visit?"

Leanne thought for a minute; it was actually a hard question as she often spent half her time at work, and the other half playing video games at home. "I guess there's the park, we can always wander to the zoo...Downtown is kind of scary which is why I never go alone."

"I like scary, scary is fun. Downtown it is then!" Enthusiasm restored, the Doctor suddenly took off, practically pulling Leanne's arm out of her socket as he dragged her off. Then just as suddenly, he turned on one foot, facing Leanne. "Erm, so, how do we get there? And where is it?" He added as an afterthought.

Meanwhile, Leanne was beginning to think this was a bad idea. Running out of work early with a mad man? _Not one of my brighter ideas _she thought and performed a mental face-palm. "The bus" she said simply, in response to the Doctors question. And ointing down the road, she added "that way."

The Doctor and Leanne arrived at the bus stop just as one was pulling up. While Leanne had to pay, he flashed his psychic paper which ended up appearing like a transit pass. It was crowded, and not like the Double Deckers he was used to in London. It also smelt like very sweaty human...and something else that he could not distinguish, something that doesn't quite fit...his thoughts where rudely interrupted when a kid with baggy pants and a blaring-jPog was it?- knocked him into Leanne without so much as an apology. Leanne let out a squeak and said "I'm sorry!"

"Wasn't your fault" the Doctor said with a quick smile at her. He surreptitiously reached for his sonic screwdriver, and pointed it at the kid's jPog, thing. After a quick jolt on level 2, he slipped it back into his suit, smirking as the kid began fumbling uselessly with the volume button.

Leanne had spotted The Doctor playing around with something before a smile crossed his face. She glanced at the kid, and then him. "What…was that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

He winked at her "Just teaching a lesson". _And showing off_, he thought to himself. _Doctor, you have got to stop doing that!_ Not distracted anymore, he remembered that smell. It was still there. Faint, yet most definitely not right. Nostrils flaring, he turned to Leanne and said quietly "Do you smell something?"

She frowned at that. "I don't know. Buses always smell a little funny. The joys of public transportation I guess." The whole place had an odd smell, which was why she tried to avoid taking the bus during the busy times of the day.

"No, not the joyful smell, an undertone smell. Sniff harder!"

"Ew what?" She said with a weird look crossing her face. That sentence was probably one of the most unusual she had ever heard in her life. "Do I look like a blood hound to you?"

The Doctor sighed. Perhaps as there was always something odd going on around him, he was just imagining things. It probably was-the scent got stronger. A short figure in dark jeans and a hoodie brushed by him, making its way towards, and out the center doors. "Well, looks like we found something interesting after all! Common!" He jumped out of the bus, and began to follow the hooded man, staying an inconspicuous distance away.


	3. Sketchy Alleyways

"Wait!" She said as she jumped off after the man. "What's going on Mr...geeze I didn't even ask your name before you yanked me off from work." She said burrowing her face into her hands. "And why are we following some skuzzy dude anyways?"

"Oh sorry, I'm the Doctor, nice to meet you." he grabbed and shook her hand while still walking, and then added "Because he smells funny. And you said geeze! Not many people say geeze nowadays. I like that geeeeeezeyep" he made the p at the end pop.

She looked shocked for a moment as he grabbed her hand. "Doctor? That's a title not a name." She questioned before shaking her head. "A lot of people smell funny. It's a weird reason to follow them though. Usually I try to avoid funny smelling people...well...unless I'm at an anime or comic convention. Then it's a little harder to avoid them."

"Ahh, but this is funny funny. I am thinking not human funny. Comics like Garfield?" He asked at the end, trying to cover his 'not human' slip-up.

"No...more like Superman and Batman. Some times they have actors from sci-fi shows like Star Trek and things like that." She said with a shrugs. She wasn't unaccustomed to explaining these things, after all if people aren't nerds they tend to ignore things like Comics, sci-fi or anime. "Not human...funny." She repeated quietly after the words sunk in for a minute.

"Well, he does not smell like a normal human would smell. I find that interesting that a cause for investigation, wouldn't you? If something smells rotten, investigate the rot!" The man turned into an alleyway. With Leanne's hand still in his grasp, he waited for a few seconds, then followed, dragging her behind. The man was gone. "Bugger", he muttered.

"Maybe he's just been sitting in a garbage can?" She offered. "They usually smell of rot." Noticing the pull into the alleyway she looked around for a second. "We weren't that far behind him." She said nervously...she didn't like the idea of misplacing someone that felt that...creepy. She had the funniest feeling he was dangerous. "Well...he either is hiding somewhere trying to jump us, or he teleported away somewhere." She said sarcastically.

"Ahh, smart you are!" He flicked out his sonic screwdriver and began waving it around in the air. "But wrong. No residual energy. Well, lets try and smell him out!" The Doctor began smelling the air again.

At this point she started to laugh. "You know I was joking right? There's no such thing as Teleporters...They're all..science fictiony." Even though she was laughing she found herself holding on a little tighter to the doctors hand. If felt like someone was watching them...and she couldn't shake the feeling. "Was that the thing you pulled out on the bus? Is it some kind of fancy pen?"

"Even better, it's a screwdriver. A sonic one at that" He said proudly. He had felt her hand squeeze tighter. Lowering his voice, he said "Look, like you said, he probably is hiding somewhere. I can't actually smell him out either, I am just trying to scare him. Sooner or later he will realize that it's a hoax. So now" He dropped her hand "I think you should run as far and as hard as possible in the opposite direction". He gazed at her solemnly.


	4. Tiny Spacemen in Jumpers

Leanne started shaking a bit at the Doctor's words. This Doctor fellow's attitude had done a complete 180. She felt something was wrong...and well this just proved it didn't it? "O-okay." She stuttered for a second before taking a deep breath and turning to run away.

It was too late. The Doctor had not told her to go on time. He should have. Actually, he should never have involved her in the first place. But he was so used to having someone with him...dragging her along had seemed so natural. And now, he had put another human's life in danger, for they were circled by a bunch of thugs with ray guns. The Doctor held up his hands in surrender, with a grin that was more worry than cheer. "I suggest you do the same" he said to Leanne through gritted teeth.

Leanne froze and emulated the Doctor, her eyes wide behind her glasses. She backed up slightly until she bumped into the Doctor. Her whole body was shaking with fear. Was this some kind of gang? Escaped convicts? _This is why I avoid downtown_ she moaned inside her head. She was always afraid such a scenario would occur. Unsure what to do, Leanne simply stood there shaking waiting for demands...and hoping the most they wanted was her wallet.

"So" said the Doctor "I'm the Doctor. Who are you then?"

"You will be silent" Hissed one of them.

"Really? You Will Be Silent? I personally don't think that title fits you, especially since you just spoke. Now Tiny Spacemen in Jumpers, that's what I would call you. Or maybe-"

"I said SILENT!" The same one hissed angrily.

"Yep, zip, mum's the word." The Doctor pinched his fingers together in front of his lips and made a zipping gesture.

Leanne looked over at the doctor with fear in her eyes. Does he have a plan? He must, or why else would he be egging these thugs on? Afraid to speak, tears began to form in her eyes as she attempted to suppress a crying fit. _Way to act brave_ _Leanne_, she mentally kicked herself.

The aliens, in the meantime, were making their circle closer. "Why are you following us?" the leader-well, he had to be the leader, since he was the only one who had spoken the whole time-asked the Doctor.

"Mmmph mm Mphm MPHHHH" the Doctor pointed to his lips.

"You may speak when addressed"

The Doctor made an unzipping gesture. "Ah thank you. By the way, what is this WE, you are going on about? I was only following one of you. And really though, it is because you smelled. The one of you. Well, come to think of it now, the whole lot of you stinks. What is that smell I wonder, a new shampoo? I can't really place it..." While prattling on, the Doctor shifted his eyes around trying to find some means of escape.

"Please, can we just go?" Leanne finally managed to whisper to the Doctor. "I'm not even supposed to be here. I should be sorting mail and listening to people bitch about postage prices." She still felt as though she was going to cry, and was trying very hard not to.

"Working on it" said the Doctor, still smiling. He had been working on it. The Doctor flung his right arm out, his sonic screwdriver like some wacked extension of his hand, and beamed it at the ladder that was hanging from fire escape stairs. It fell, pinning down one of the smelly creatures. The Doctor pushed Leanne ahead and shouted "Run!"

The command startled the girl, but her feet were moving before her brain actually registered what the Doctor had said. She broke out into a run. She had never been a fast runner and found herself quickly tired but she was too scared to stop, and only dared a glance over her shoulders to see if the Doctor was following her.

_Of course_ the Doctor was running, though he was pacing himself so that he was between Leanne and the pursing-whatever they are. There was a sudden _bzzzio_, and the Doctor felt his hair ripple as a shot went over his head. "Oi, careful mate, that's my hair you almost singed!" He pointed his screwdriver over his shoulder, and blasted shots. As he had hoped, the guns had no anti sonic technology and were thus rendered useless. "Did I mention I also HATE GUNS?" He quickened his step and caught up to Leanne. "We need to jump a bus and get back to your work!"

Leanne had her tears escape to run freely down her face, which was now bright red. The Doctor didn't notice, as he was making sure the now gun-less things had stopped following them. "No... Kidding." She said to him between labored breaths. In her head she was crying _I_ _want to go home_ over and over again. The sounds of the guns had made her cringe and her heart was pounding far too fast to be health. But she managed not to die before reaching the other side of the street, nearly tripping over her feet as she screeched to a halt at the bus stop.

Again with pure luck there was a bus there. And again, it trundled along as though the Doctor had nothing better to do. He heard a small sob beside him, and it was then he noticed that Leanne had tear tracks down her cheeks, and her eyes were a bit red. "Erm, I suppose you don't see this much every day?" he asked her gently, feeling guilty he had not noticed her distress until now. _Since when did I become such a cad? _

Rubbing her eyes, Leanne nodded back. "I get a little nervous just looking at a pair of scissors...never mind being chased by thugs. I knew we had gangs in this town but I've never seen any before." She buried her head into her hands. "I knew there was a reason I don't go out much." She paused, raising her head slightly to look at the Doctor. "? Wait, you said they weren't human. So then what...what were those things?" Leanne asked. Then she shook her head vigorously. "Am I dreaming? Honestly, this wouldn't be the weirdest dream I've ever had."

"And this wouldn't be the weirdest day I've ever had." Replied the Doctor. He chewed his lower lip "And yeahhh, they aren't human. On the upside that means that they are not a local gang. Well, depending on what you would define as 'local' of course. And I know that that might have been a scary experience, but you have got to tell me it's more exciting than staying home on a Friday night?"

Leanne gave a small laugh at that as she continued to rub her eyes. "I sometimes defeat 90 monsters, travel to far off lands, and save the world in a Friday night." She sighed. "Mind you only with a video game controller in my hand." She tried to quip, despite still sounding a little shaken up.

The Doctor gave a small smile. "Well, I will have this lot sorted out soon. You know, I've never liked the way video games worked. Too much killing". _Finally_, the bus pulled up to their stop, and the Doctor leapt, starting to make his way to the TARDIS.

Leanne ducked out and followed the Doctor for a minute more glancing at her watch. "Five o'clock..." She muttered. "Look I need to head out soon, my mom will be worried If I don't get back and-" She paused as she looked at the large wooden blue box standing in her path, bold white letters across the top reading _Police Public Call Box_. She tilted her head slightly and stared at it. "What on earth is that thing?"

The Doctor took out his key to the TARDIS, unlocked it, and went inside, closing the doors behind him, cutting off Leanne. She could go home, back to her life. Back to safety. That seemed to be what she wanted, and he didn't need anyone. Really, he…he sigh opened the door again, and poked his head out. "So Leanne, here is the deal. You can go back home, to your video games, and your same old routine. _ OR_, you can come inside an odd blue box with an odd man. Your choice". The Doctor popped back inside, closed the door, and waited.


	5. Mad Man in a Blue Box

The Doctor's question caused Leanne to take a step back.

She liked her home. She liked her family. She liked video games. And, most of all, she LIKED 'routine.' When things changed too much... Well, people left her alone.

Shaking her head suddenly, she tried unsuccessfully to rid the thought from her mind. The best Leanne could do was to push it to a far corner and ignore it, which she did while walking towards the blue box containing the mad man. After all, she couldn't stay scared forever.

The Doctor was leaning on the railing, a large grin on his face, as the door opened slowly. Leanne walked into the TARDIS and immediately stopped her determined walk, her face morphing into a look of pure shock.

_What the hell is this?_

Suddenly and quite without warning her face erupted into a big smile and she broke into a rather clumsy run and she dashed about the inside. "_Geeze!_" she yelled, her face still red from being upset, but it had a slight glow now. "It's... Oh, WOW. It's so _big_ in here!"

The Doctor was not expecting that reaction at _all_. "Normally people freak out when they see this; normally they say 'It's bigger on the inside than the outside' and _then_ run around a bit waving their arms," he muttered to himself. That was his favorite part when he introduced someone to the interior of the TARDIS, but Leanne seemed to be taking it in stride. Well, more in a run. "So, you think aliens are weird but not my ship?" he asked her, puzzled.

"I didn't _say_ this _wasn't_ weird!" Leanne screeched to a halt from her running around. "I just think it's _amazing_. Those aliens were not so amazing; they were short and had guns and... Wait. You mean they _really_ were aliens? Not just midgets in Halloween get ups?" She paused for a second seeming in deep thought... then pointed at The Doctor with an almost maniacal look in her eyes, and burst out, "ARE YOU AN ALIEN?"

"Erm, yes... I am," said the Doctor, fiddling with some wires while keeping an eye on the girl in case she suddenly passed out from hyperventilation. "And, this is my ship. Welcome—" He bowed with a flourish "—to the TARDIS. That stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. Now can you pass me that thing over there, the one that looks like a gas mask?"

"_I knew it!_" Leanne exclaimed with glee. "Aliens are real, we're not alone in the universe and those jerks who told me I was just watching too much Star Trek can go suck it! _Ha!_" She paused mid-rant to grab the item the Doctor requested. "Uhhh… here ya go. What _is_ it?"

"Well, Star Trek _does_ have quite a few physical accuracies... Erm, _anyways,_ this is a scent analyzer. Technically called a Molecular Bio-Hormonal Air Analyzer, though saying that would be like saying TARDIS in non-acronym form every time."

He paused for a second to let Leanne absorb his drabble and then continued on. "Those aliens reeked because of their chemical composition. Yet it's not strong enough that humans can smell them, so we are probably going to need a high setting." The Doctor turned a blue dial on the left side of the mask to notch 9.2. He then stuck the mask onto a plastic model of a head.

"And, now, the odor!" The Doctor took off his suit jacket and pressed the area that the alien had brushed against the nozzle of the analyzer. With the flick of a yellow switch, that particular patch of shirt was sucked into the nozzle like a rug in a vacuum hose. "This will take a few minutes. Has to sort out the new particles from the old. You'd think it would have figured it out my scent from others before, but it has to go through the whole process every time. Ah well." He flopped down on his swivel chair, propping his feet up onto the console. "So, any further questions?"

"That's... so weird but amazing, too. Seems more like some kind of tricoder with a nose," Leanne said, raising an eyebrow at the scent analyzer. "Is this a ship like the _USS Enterprise_ or is it more like the _Millennium Falcon_? I mean, you definitely seem more like a Han Solo than a Picard." She was well beyond the point of geeking out about all this. Not like she cared.

The Doctor returned the eyebrow raise. "Ahh, no. The TARDIS is much more than that. I mean, you don't see any other ship flying around looking like a blue police box, do you?" He spun himself around in his chair.

She shook her head. "I guess not." She laughed. "Why does it look that way, anyways? If it's some kind of weirdo cloaking device it's not doing a very good job of blending in."

"Well, she did stick in. Lots of police boxes back in '64. Her chameleon circuit just got a bit… ah …frayed. Anywho, I like her this way, and it's not like people ever notice her. A blue box sitting out on the street is too out of the ordinary that it automatically gets blocked." He looked as his watch. "Three minutes."

Leanne blinked at that "Three minutes? Three minutes to what? Doomsday? Tea time? What?"

"Till the analyzer is ready," he replied.

"Oh. Right." She took in the surroundings for a moment, still in her geek out mode. "TARDIS... Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, you said." She pondered on that for a second. "Time...?" Something then clicked in her head. "Does this thing Travel in _time_, too?" A bright look shot on her face.

"Yep, she does! Backwards, forwards, sideways. Anywhere and anywhen! When she is working, that is." A frown flashed across his face for a second then he was up and smiling in front of the analyzer. Papers were printing out, and his grinned broadened as he analyzed them.

"Ah..." Leanne said in a dreamy swoon. "Leaping from life to life, setting things right that once went wrong and hoping that the next leap... would be the leap home!" Then she ended, bouncing onto one foot as she quoted her sci-fi. She didn't care if anybody got the reference.

The Doctor did not get the reference and was immersed into his papers, so he only mumbled, "Yeah, something like that... _I got it!_" He did a happy jig. "Copperkeleniatium, planet Kelenia! Not very imaginative, naming the planet after the scientists..."

He threw his suit jacket back on "I _hate_ it when they do that. Especially since the real name becomes long lost." He began rummaging around in a cupboard, shoving odd items out of the way until he found a vial in the back corner. He blew the dust off, and shoved it into his inner pocket. He turned to Leanne, still grinning, and cocked his head towards the TARDIS door. "Allons-y!"


	6. What is Larping?

Leanne at first followed the Doctor with a newfound spring in her step, but as she really thought about what she had said, she slowed down. The character in the show she had quoted... He never got his leap home. He became lost in time forever, didn't he?

She shook her head, yet she found herself feeling that this Doctor was a lot like the doctor from the show.

Leanne smiled. If they were alike she wouldn't have anything to worry about. Dr. Sam Becket always did the right thing, after all.

The Doctor really did NOT want to take a bus again, but this wasn't London where you could find three taxis per block. He asked Leanne if she had any other means of transport.

Unfortunately, Leanne couldn't drive yet, so she shook her head. "Never saw a reason to get my license yet... My mom's still at her work, and I don't think she would take too well to a strange man demanding to be driven somewhere."

A mental image of her mom slugging the Doctor quickly popped to mind, and she giggled slightly at that. "I wonder if anybody from work is willing to give us a lift..." she thought absentmindedly.

"Ahh, great! Call one up, then! I think I will only trust busses with two levels from now on."

It was then Leanne noticed something parked near the edge of the Street. A dark green car with a young blond man leaning up against it, glancing at his watch.

"Jeramy?" she said quietly at first, more to herself. "Jeramy!" she cried louder when she spotted that the mess of blond spikes was in fact the person she was thinking of.

The young man looked over and tilted his head. Grabbing the Doctor's hand, Leanne ran over toward the vehicle. "I forgot you said you were picking me up today! Can we take a detour and go downtown?"

The boy stared for a second, looking at Leanne, then the Doctor, then their hands which were still being held. Then back to Leanne. "Who the heck is this guy? Your boyfriend?" he said cautiously.

"Actually, just met," said the Doctor, jumping into the shotgun seat uninvited. "I'm the Doctor, by the way; nice to meet you. Leanne, you need to direct since I have not the foggiest where we need to go."

Leanne leaned over to Jeramy and whispered, "He's definitely _not_ my boyfriend. I don't have one remember?" she said, jumping in the back seat of the car as Jeramy stood there, blinking for a minute, before sliding back into the driver's seat.

"What kind of name is...The Doctor?" he said with a raised eyebrow but didn't really think about it too hard as they pulled out and started in the direction of downtown.

"_My_ name," replied the Doctor. "Have any bananas on you?"

"What kind of question is that?" Jeramy said, irritated, and glanced back at Leanne. "So where are we going? Downtown?"

"Yeah, just drive till we're across the river... I don't think we were very far in... But I'll remember when I see it." Jeramy sighed and pushed down on the gas pedal.

The Doctor gazed outside, with a now much better view. "People do make better walls than windows. Well, no, I have met some aliens, entirely see-through..." He shut up when he realized that he was talking out loud.

Jeramy looked over at the Doctor with an eye brown raised. "Aliens...? Is this another one of your sci-fi nuts?" Jeramy called back to Leanne.

She pouted and retaliated back, "Says the guy who dressed up as an elf every Saturday night to go explore the great magical forest of... What's it called?"

Jeramy frowned and returned his eyes to the road. "We were in Spider Vale last week," he said quietly, obviously accepting his defeat at that. "And it's not an elf! It's a HALF-elf, thank you very much."

"I like nuts," piped in the Doctor, still pondering the outsides of the window. "Bananas covered in nuts." They began to pass over the river. "Whatsit-called?" asked the Doctor, to no one in particular. "Oooo, people in rafts! I remember rafting down the Amazon, dodging arrows and mind-controlled piranhas…" His voice faded out as he went further into his reminiscing, his mind on another

"Uh... Are you sure this guy is... all there?" Jeramy said.

"You're friends with me... you should know I attract some... eccentric people. I mean, I sing about tuna on the moon and you LARP for heaven's sake," Leanne replied. "It's the Bow River Doctor," she then said with a smile.

"What kind of a bow? A hair bow? A hunter's bow? A bowtie? What is LARP? LARPING? Do you hop on one foot?" The Doctor grinned.

Leanne chose to ignore the comments at the moment as she was concentrating on where they were going.

"HERE!" she said abruptly.

Jeramy quickly slammed on the breaks, causing horns to be honked behind them. "It was around here…" She turned to face the Doctor, who of course had already left the car and was ten paces away. Leanne sighed and slid out the back seat onto the street. Jeramy frowned and pulled up to the sidewalk.

"What the hell! Don't just jump out of the car!" He watched her for a moment as she walked up to the Doctor, shrugged, and went to join them.


	7. Caught Like Fish

The Doctor was right behind Leanne, his long legs quickly closing the gap between them. He took out the vial containing the alien extract and scanned the molecular information with his sonic screwdriver. He then pointed it away from him, perpendicular to his body, until the screwdriver began beeping at an alarming rate. It had caught the aliens' essence.

"Oh, we've got them now!" he cried. Allons-y!" And, with that he dashed off, arm still flung out in front of him.

"Their home? What does he mean by _their home_? What are we even doing here?" Jeramy said a little breathlessly. He had caught up, and was now following right behind them.

Leanne looked back at him and said. "Maybe you should wait in the car Jer...Things are going to get a little weird."

"Look, are you LARPing some stupid sci-fi role play?" He said with an eyebrow raised.

"Jer..." Leanne began to say, trying to think of something that would get her friend back out of harm's way. However, it was too late as she spotted the familiar form of an alien circling around them. "Doctor...I think they've spotted us."

Hearing Leanne, the Doctor skidded to a stop and spun around, mentally berating himself for always running ahead. Two midget formed aliens came out, along with ray guns pointed at Leanne and her friend. No wait, not ray guns, these were different..."LOOK OUT!" he shouted. But it was too late. A net shot out, and the two were captured. The aliens began to drag them away, their strength to body size ratio comparable to ants.

Leanne let out a yelp as she and Jeramy were pulled along the rough concrete. "Oh, _great!_" she yelled to no one in particular,

"_What in the name of Tolkien is going on_?" Jeramy shouted as he struggled rather pointlessly to fight his way out of the net.

"Hold on, Leanne!" called the Doctor. He started to run after them and then had to duck and roll as another net shot out, nearly capturing him. Unfortunately, he would have to shake off the aliens before he could catch up to and free the captives. He slid behind a trash bin, and waited… or would have.

One of the small aliens had snuck up behind him. It grabbed onto the Doctor's ankle, viciously biting onto his leg with small wicked teeth.

"_Arrgh!_" the Doctor cried out, more in anger than in pain. "GET. OFF. ME," he snarled. When it didn't comply, he shook his leg vigorously and the little thing went flying into a wall with a _crash_. With a quick glance to see if there were any more of them lurking about, he went to the slumped figure in the wall, and began shaking it.

"Where are they taking my friends!" he demanded. The thing was still unconscious.

He shook it some more, and during the process the hood fell off to reveal a lumpy orange-red head with the texture of gravel. Its eyes finally opened, revealing slit pupils surrounded by a fiery red. It shot the Doctor a glare, but the Doctor was not in the mood for nonsense. "I will ask you one more time," he said quite coldly. "Where. Are. My. FRIENDS."

The thing gave out a thin, grating chuckle. "The pit," it hissed. "Needs to be fed, it does. Fun to watch."

"Pit? What pit?" he demanded, thinking to himself, _Nothing good has ever lived in a pit. _

However, the creature had slumped back down. It was then that the Doctor noticed the massive hemorrhaging from the back of the alien's head. It was dead. He gave it a look of disgust, though it was mixed slightly with pity and guilt. He had not meant to kill it when he had shaken it off. He closed its eyes and set off, moving cautiously and keeping to the shadows.

Back outside the drugstore, and dressed in running shorts and a tank top, was a very tall girl. She was staring at the blue police box, her eyes filled with disbelief. A few moments before, she had seen two extremely recognizable individuals dash out from this blue box and jump into a car.

One was Leanne, whom she had not seen in ages, and didn't even know she was back in town. The other… She had begun to think that the whole thing had been just a dream, that the heat of Paris had gone to her head. Yet here was his blue box, the one he had talked about. The one she had refused to see. And it was real.

She ran her hands along the smooth wood, not noticing passersby did not even spare her or the blue box a single glance. _Should I wait for them?_ she began to wonder. It was then that she heard the ringing.

It was a high pitched, but not unpleasant, noise, coming from below and a bit to the right of where she was standing. The girl walked the few paces and stooped over. A small, undistinguishable key was sitting on the pavement, and with a slightly trembling hand, she picked it up. The ringing stopped.

And, as though it were a dream, she drifted back to the blue box. Her hand trembling even more now, she fit the key into the lock and turned it. The door swung open silently, and what the girl saw there was going to change her life forever.


End file.
